The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 257: Using a water gun in a variety show, playing dissection on set
Two weeks into filming, the crew members had visibly slimmed down.
Director Hou Hsiao-hsien's high-pressure mode had almost drained everyone's energy.
Today was a major scene.
The Japanese army's intelligence chief, Major Takahashi, had set up a "Hongmen Feast" at Shanghai's most luxurious hotel to entertain the local business elite.
The real purpose, however, was to identify the mysterious intelligence agent who had repeatedly thwarted the Japanese army—"Abyss."
The banquet hall was decorated with extreme opulence.
Yet, all eyes were firmly drawn to one thing at the center of the venue.
A giant bluefin tuna, freshly airlifted from Japan.
The fish's body shimmered with a metallic luster under the crystal chandeliers, lying there quietly, exuding an oppressive sense of money and power.
Hou Hsiao-hsien's demands echoed in the ears of every crew member.
"What I want is a tension where blood and elegance coexist."
The banquet was halfway through.
Major Takahashi raised his wine glass, signaling the specially invited Japanese cuisine master chef to begin his performance.
This was the climax of the banquet and also a display of power.
The featured background actor playing the master chef stepped forward.
He picked up the long, slender Yanagiba knife, the specialized knife for slicing sashimi.
All the lights in the hall dimmed, leaving only a single spotlight shining on the fish body and his slightly trembling hand.
The knife tip descended, but due to the trembling hand, it deviated from the fish meat's grain, directly hacking the most succulent belly otoro into a pitted mess.
The smile on Major Takahashi's face instantly froze.
Seeing this, the master chef let out a "clang"—the Yanagiba knife slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. His whole body went limp, his face ashen.
The atmosphere on the scene instantly chilled.
Amid this deadlock, a figure rose from among the guests.
Jiang Ci bent down and picked up the Yanagiba Hocho knife from the floor.
Then, he gave a slight nod in the director's direction.
Hou Hsiao-hsien's gaze locked onto him.
Jiang Ci took off his crisp white suit jacket and casually handed it to the bewildered Zhao Zhen behind him.
He unhurriedly rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, revealing a section of cold, pale wrist.
He weighed the knife in his hand, inspecting the blade against the light.
Then, he walked towards the giant tuna.
[Top-tier Japanese Sashimi/Anatomical Knife Skills] skill, activated.
Jiang Ci made his cut.
The blade slid along the fish's spine line, the movement flowing like clouds and water. Only an extremely faint "rustling" sound could be heard.
Jiang Ci's performance had begun.
While dissecting, he explained to Major Takahashi in fluent, proficient Japanese, his voice gentle,
"Major, please observe. The nerves of this fish are not completely dead yet. Performing rapid bloodletting now can preserve the meat's freshness to the greatest extent."
With a turn of his wrist, the knife tip pierced into the connection point between the fish's skull and spine at an incredible angle.
The massive fish body twitched once, then fell completely still.
Blood gushed from the wound, staining the ice bed. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
Jiang Ci's hands holding the knife were as steady as a rock. Only a few bright red drops of blood splattered onto the back of his hand, forming a stark contrast against his cold, pale skin.
He continued cutting, cleanly severing the fish head, then the tail.
Following the grain of the fish meat, he separated it slice by slice.
Every cut was precise—not a fraction too much, not a fraction too little.
"When removing 'impurities,' the knife must be fast."
Jiang Ci looked up and gave Major Takahashi a gentle, refined smile.
"And it must follow the bone seams. That way, the smell of blood won't ruin the quality of the entire piece of meat."
The actor playing Major Takahashi, Watanabe, did not immediately accept the piece of top-grade fish meat glowing with a pinkish luster.
His gaze was fixed on Jiang Ci's hands, stained with blood yet still terrifyingly steady.
This refined and elegant young man before him was clearly demonstrating, in the most graceful manner, how to dismantle a living creature and consume it bone by bone.
Not far away, among the guests, He Xiaoping quietly watched all of this.
She watched that refined and elegant man dismember a massive corpse with the technique of handling a work of art.
She subconsciously touched her own neck. It felt icy cold.
She finally understood. Beneath Shen Qingyuan's gentle, jade-like exterior lay a sharp scalpel, ready at any moment to strip a person to the bone.
"Cut!"
Hou Hsiao-hsien's voice trembled.
During the crew's break, the atmosphere on the set was eerily frightening.
The crew members gathered in small groups, yet they all subconsciously avoided the direction where Jiang Ci was.
To break this spine-chilling silence,
a young set assistant pulled out his phone, wanting to find something lighthearted to watch.
But as soon as he tapped on a video, an untimely burst of laughter erupted from the phone.
"I can't, I'm dying of laughter. Jiang Ci's train of thought is truly outrageous!"
Several heads immediately leaned in.
On the phone screen, the latest episode of "The Yearning for Mundane Fireworks Daily Life" was playing.
In the footage, Jiang Ci wore a simple T-shirt, holding a ridiculously shaped blue children's water gun, his face deadly serious.
"Ssshh—"
A powerful stream of water sprayed onto Luo Yu's face, which was filled with utter despair.
"Quick, look at Weibo! The hashtag 'Jiang Ci Water Gun Logic' is trending!"
Several young crew members laughed so hard they doubled over.
One of the girls, wiping away tears of laughter, subconsciously looked up towards the rest area not far away.
Jiang Ci was sitting there.
He held a disinfectant wipe, meticulously wiping each of his fingers, over and over again.
Wiping away the lingering scent of blood from between his fingers.
The girl's laughter abruptly stopped.
She looked at the goofy young man holding the water gun on her phone, then at the man in reality who radiated an aura that kept strangers at bay.
A powerful sense of cognitive dissonance left her mind completely blank.
In the corner, Jiang Ci remained completely unaware of the peculiar atmosphere around him.
He opened his system panel.
[Heartbreak Value Balance: 7550 points]
[Remaining Lifespan: 7 years, 4 months, 2 days]
This was the result from the entire theatrical run of the movie "Three Lifetimes Tribulation."
Jiang Ci's attention fell on the sources of these newly increased values.
[From viewer Wang Xiaomei, Heartbreak Value +1]
[From viewer Li Jing, Heartbreak Value +1]
...
The values were minuscule, yet they kept flowing in.
This Heartbreak Value wasn't coming from "Three Lifetimes Tribulation." After a moment's thought, Jiang Ci had the answer.
He opened Weibo. Sure enough, "The Yearning for Mundane Fireworks Daily Life" had already aired.
The pinned top comment read:
"Wuwuwu, even though Jiang Ci is laughing so happily in the variety show, why do I feel like crying the more I watch?"
"That photo of his, 'Dinner is Ready,' in the trailer, paired with him saying 'I don't want to tear off the BE label, afraid it might affect box office'... I'm really going to shatter..."
Jiang Ci closed the panel.
A thought suddenly became clear in his mind.
So, happiness outside the drama could make the tragedy within it even sharper.
The break ended, and filming resumed.
The banquet concluded, and all the guests left, each harboring their own ulterior motives.
However, Major Takahashi called out to Shen Qingyuan, who was about to leave.
Watanabe walked up to Jiang Ci. He didn't pat his shoulder as per the script.
He reached out and carefully examined Jiang Ci's hands, which had just dissected a tuna.
Watanabe lightly tapped the back of Jiang Ci's hand with his fingertip. The bloodstains there were half-dried.
"Mr. Shen, it's such a waste for hands like these to only play the piano."
He straightened up, a smile returning to his face. "Welcome to the Material Strategic Reserve Department. We... need a 'special advisor' like you."
